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City, nonprofit Prevent Hate, veterans erect ADA-compliant home in one day

LOS ANGELES, July 28, 2010 – Veterans with disabilities resulting from military conflicts such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrated their abilities in rapidly erecting a temporary home featuring high-performance SolarWorld solar panels this week on Los Angeles City Hall's south lawn.

The project to build a universally accessible house in a matter of hours was one element of a 20th anniversary celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which recognizes and protects the rights of Americans with disabilities to participate in U.S. work, commerce and community life.

The LA Department of Disability, the nonprofit group Prevent Hate and veterans from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Long Beach Healthcare System staged the home project to demonstrate a joint training program to foster empowerment in at-risk and marginalized populations. The dwelling exemplified an ADA-compliant structure that can be quickly deployed during emergencies, used to reduce homelessness and constructed easily by people with disabilities. Solarworld Sunmodules were placed, but not installed, on the roof. Prevent Hate promotes community empowerment and intergroup relations.

SolarWorld, the largest and most experienced crystalline solar technology manufacturer in the Americas, was premier sponsor of the temporary home project on July 26. The company recognizes the destabilizing and military effects of the world’s overdependence on fossil fuels and the need for veterans returned to their home countries to find sustainable employment. SolarWorld also advocates the unique strengths of its solar technology in generating electricity in remote locations and emergency situations.

In the USA, SolarWorld has joined sponsors of four Oregon job fairs for soldiers returning from the two Mideast conflicts. The company is culminating an expansion to 500 MW of annual capacity and 1,000 people in Hillsboro, Ore., and is seeking employees with a high mechanical aptitude and work ethic. Moreover, the company has made three rounds of donations of solar panels – including a gift announced July 13 for 100 kilowatts – for health clinics or water-pumping stations in earthquake-torn Haiti.

"We need to embrace suitable job candidates among our returning military for redeployment on a new, green mission for America: marshaling our own manufacturing prowess to diversify our energy base to include reliable, clean, undiminishing energy from the sun," said Kevin Kilkelly, SolarWorld's president of U.S. sales. "We also need to spread that technology in countless regions that, due to disaster, war or poverty, lack electricity to care for themselves according to basic health and life standards."

SolarWorld Real Value

SolarWorld manufactures and sells solar power solutions and in doing so contributes to a cleaner energy supply worldwide. As the largest solar producer in the United States and Europe, SolarWorld employs about 3,200 people and carries out production in Hillsboro, Ore., and Freiberg and Arnstadt, Germany. From the raw material silicon to solar wafers, cells and panels, SolarWorld manages all stages of production ‒ including its own research and development. The company maintains high social standards at all locations across the globe and is committed to resource- and energy-efficient production. Headquartered in Bonn, Germany, SolarWorld was founded in 1998 and has been publicly traded on the stock market since 1999. For more information, visit www.solarworld-usa.com.